Bloody Relations
by Nocturnal-Niccy616
Summary: Lately, Zero has been having nightmares about his little brother Ichiru. One night, the family goes to the Vampire Association Ball where members of the Council of Elders were invited. When Ichiru has an accident and Senshiro Otori, a pureblood, has a taste of his blood, Zero fears that his nightmares are coming true. Can Zero protect Ichiru before its too late?


**A/N: Hello again Vampire Knight Lovers! Yeah that's right, I'm back with another one of my stories. Now I know I said that Senri and Takuma were my favorite couple, but Zero and Ichiru are my top favorite characters from Vampire Knight. I'm writing this story because A: I didn't like it when they killed Ichiru, and B: they were just too cute when they were little! This story is based on them when they were still little. So here it is! (There is no information on their parents, so the names are made up and I do not own them or Vampire Knight.)**

_Zero was walking through the snow in the dark; there was no source of light from the moon that should have been full high in the sky. He couldn't see anything from any direction. All he could see was the snow falling around him. He's had this dream before, at least that's what it felt like. He had been walking for what felt like hours, when he saw someone in the distance._

"_Ichiru?" Zero called out, hearing his voice echo in the darkness. From the back he looked like him, wearing the same pajamas only in yellow. Zero's eyes widened when his brother turned around, the side of his neck was covered in blood. Two arms came from behind and grabbed Ichiru and pulled him into the darkness. _

"_Ichiru!" Zero yelled, chasing after his brother, but he knew that it was already too late…_

"Zero…Zero!" Ichiru called, leaning over his brother and shaking him awake.

Zero opened his eyes to find his brother staring down at him. He jumped up and hugged Ichiru as if his life depended on it.

"What's the matter Zero? You were moaning in your sleep." Ichiru asks, hugging his brother back. He was surprised when he was awoken by his brother shouting his name. Usually Zero was the one doing the comforting, it felt nice to be depended on for a change.

"I'm sorry Ichiru. It was just a bad dream. I didn't mean to wake you." Zero says, placing his forehead to his little brothers. Ichiru's was a little bit warmer, but that wasn't a surprise since he was getting over a fever. He smiles a little bit. "It seems your fever finally broke."

"Yeah, I should be allowed to leave the house tomorrow." He chuckles, then look's at the clock. "Or should I say today, it's 2:30 in the morning." He lifts his head up and looks into his brothers eyes. They were the same as his, but Zero's had a hint of worry in them "Do you want to talk about it?"

Zero shock his head, he didn't want to worry Ichiru over nothing. It was just a dream after all, what harm could come from a dream? "You should go back to sleep before your fever spikes up again." He places his hand on Ichiru's shoulder and pushes him back down onto his pillow.

The two of them stared at each other for a little while longer, but finally Ichiru caved in and was the first to fall asleep.

Zero continued to stare at his little brother for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes. He could still remember the nightmare he had about Ichiru, but it didn't feel like a dream at all. It felt so real to Zero, as if something bad was going to happen to Ichiru. Zero shakes the thought out of his head and drifts off to sleep. He'll protect Ichiru. That he promised to himself.

ΩΩΩ

The next time Zero woke up the sun was shining into their room. Ichiru wasn't lying next to him, but he could hear the shower running. He got up out of bed and headed to the kitchen. His mom was at the stove cooking, while his dad was at the table reading the paper.

"Good morning Zero." His mother said, she walked over to him and ruffled his hair a little bit. "I was surprised to see Ichiru up before you and was afraid he gave you his cold." She placed her hand on his forehead, but he quickly shakes it off.

"I'm fine mother, I just didn't sleep well last night." He says. He walked over to the table and took his seat. His breakfast was already there, waiting for him to start eating. "How's Ichiru?" he asked, digging in.

"He's actually doing a lot better today. He didn't have a fever when he woke up and he seems to have a lot more energy than usual." She says, placing a glass of orange juice next to his plate and went back to doing the last of the dishes.

"I'm glad Ichiru is finally doing better, now he can come with us tonight." Zero's father suddenly says, folding up the paper and taking a drink of his coffee.

"The Hunters Association Ball, right? That's tonight?" Zero asks, finishing his juice.

"Yeah, it's held once every year or so. It's where Hunters get together and share information with each other." Ichiru says, entering the kitchen and sitting next to his brother.

"That's my son, sharp as a tick." His father says, leaving the table and ruffling their hair on the way out.

"It's sharp as a tack, dad!" The twins say at the same time. The two looked at each other and started laughing.

"Ichiru, you didn't dry you hair all the way." Zero says, taking the towel around Ichiru's neck and putting it on top of his head. "You're going to get another cold if you don't dry it properly."

"You worry too much Zero; it's supposed to be warmer today so I didn't bother to dry it all." Ichiru says. Even though he said this, he did not stop his older brother from drying his hair.

"Asuka, we should start getting ready." Their father says, popping his head into the kitchen.

"You're right Kazuki. Come on boys, time to go get ready!" Asuka says, getting her sons out of their seats and out of the kitchen.

Zero and Ichiru both left the kitchen and entered their room to get ready. Their clothes were already out on their bed for them to wear. This wasn't like a black tie event or anything like that, but it did require a little more of a dresser type of clothing than usual. They were both going to wearing black pants and black polo jacket. Ichiru's shirt was a light gray color with a sky blue patter on it, while Zero's was a white shirt with a red pattern.

As Zero was putting on his jacket, he looked over at his brother and saw him grabbing his bottle of medicine off the bedside table. He walked over to his brother and put his hand over the bottle and looked up and gave him a smile. He knew how hard this was going to be for him being sickly and all, so he wanted to encourage him as much as possible. Ichiru smiled back and took the bottle and placed two pills in the pram of his hand and put them in his pocket. A knock came from behind them and they turned to see their parents in the doorway.

"Ready to go?" Kazuki asked.

The boys looked at each other and then backed at their parents. "Ready as we'll ever be." Zero says, taking Ichiru's hand walking out the room.

ΩΩΩ

Zero and Ichiru were amazed when they approached the Hunter's Association building. The outside of the building looked like an old style library, but the inside of the building was a lot larger than they had thought it would be. The two brothers were to amaze by the building that they didn't notice hunters staring at them.

"Stay close to us boys." Asuka whispers to them. She gave a glance at Kazuki and he smiled at her, giving her some reassurance.

"Asuka and Kazuki Kiryu, it's so good to see that you could make it." A voice called from ahead of them. A woman wearing a long dress and caring a fan appeared in front of the family. "These two most be your boys, they look so much like you Kazuki."

"Yes, it's good to see you too Madam President. Zero, Ichiru, this is the Association's President." Kazuki says, introducing the boys to the President.

"You two are the pride and joy of Asuka and Kazuki, they talk nonstop about you two." The President says, bending down and talking the boys. "I'm expecting great things from the two of you in the future." She stood back up and looked at the parents. "I would like to have a word with you about your last mission."

"Alright." Asuka says, and then turns to her two boys. "Why don't you two go find Mr. Yagari while we talk?" The two boys nodded their heads and headed off in the opposite direction.

"Father said madam, right?" Ichiru asked when he thought they were fall enough.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Zero asked, wondering what his brother was thinking.

"When I first saw her, I thought she was a man." Ichiru whispered in his brother's ear. Zero jumped back a little bit and started laughing along with his brother.

"What are you two talking about?" Yagari says from behind the two boys.

"Sensei!" Zero says, turning around to see their teacher. He was still wearing the same thing he always wore when he came to visit them for training. He also carried his shot gun upon his back.

"The two of you better not be getting yourselves into any trouble while here. This isn't a playground. If it wasn't for the fact that all hunters were supposed to be here, the three of us would be back at home." Yagari says, moving towards them and placing his hand on their heads and ruffling their hair.

"We were just talking about how big this place was, and meeting the Association's President." Ichiru says, looking up from Yagari over to Zero and winked.

Zero just smiled at his brother. This was the first time in a long time he has seen such life in his brother, he didn't even need to take his pills. He looked over at his parents and saw that they were looking at them and smiling. Zero may have gotten the strength, but Ichiru had the brains. This was the life they were born into, and this was the life they were going to live.

By late in the evening, the building was filled with hunters and they were all talking about one thing or another. Zero and Ichiru were introduced to a couple of other hunters, but they were quickly sent off to find Yagari when their parents were talking business. While looking for Yagari, Zero sensed something outside the building. He grabbed hold of Ichiru's arm and pulled him closer to him.

"What's the matter Zero?" Ichiru asked, but he quickly got his answer when the doors to the building burst opened. There was a handful of people at the entry way and they all had a sort of mysterious aura around them. The one in front of them had a dangerous feel to him. He had long jet black hair that he had pulled back, but yet still had it down. For some reason, this man felt familiar to Zero, as if he has meet him somewhere before.

The hunters were all on high alert, some of them even having their weapons out. The President walked up to the strangers while telling her people to lower their weapons. "Senshiro Otori and Asato Ichijo, I'm so glad that members of the Council of Elders could make it." The President says, bowing her head in respect.

"It was nice of you to invite us. This is the first time a vampire, especially a Pureblood, has ever been allowed through these halls." The man with the long black hair says, looking around to see all the hunter's staring at them.

"Madam President, you didn't mention that vampires where going to be here." Yagari says, stepping up behind her and whispering into her ear.

"I thought since we are all working for the same goal, the destruction of Level E's, we could share some information with one another." She says, not even bothering to look Yagari in the eyes.

"I'm glad to see that we can find some common ground." Senshiro says, looking at all the hunters.

"I'm surprised the President would allow this, vampires in the association building and all." Ichiru says, looking at the vampires and hunters all gathered together. He felt the grip of Zero's hand tighten around his arm. "Zero, you're squeezing my arm too tightly." He looks over to his brother, seeing the worry in his eyes. "Zero…"

"Let's find mother and father." Zero says, tugging his brother along with him. Zero didn't care about what the association was doing with that vampire; all he cared about was getting Ichiru as far away from that man as possible.

As they were heading towards the front of the hall where their parents were, Ichiru tripped over a pedestal where a vase with flowers was and it fell to the floor. A loud crash thudded through the building, drawing the attention of all the vampires and hunters in the building.

"I'm sorry, are you alright Ichiru?" Zero asked, bending down to help his brother up.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just…ouch!" Ichiru yelped, lifting his hand up and realizing that he had a long gash on his hand from a piece of glass.

"Is everything alright little ones?" A voice from above asked. Zero looked up and saw that the pureblooded vampire Senshiro was standing over them.

Senshiro bent down and took Ichiru's hand and looked at the cut. By now, Ichiru's hand was covered with his own blood. "You two ought to be more careful next time." He says, taking Ichiru's hand and licking the blood.

Zero was complete paralyzed. The presence of this man alone made it so he couldn't move, no matter how much he wanted to rip his hands off of Ichiru. He knew that his little brother was feeling the same way. Ichiru continued to stare up in fear at the man who was taking his blood.

A click of a shotgun came from behind Senshiro, making Zero come back to his senses. "I'd let go of my son if I were you." Kazuki said, taking his sword and placing it at the sole of his back. Yagari was standing next to him, his shotgun pointed at Senshiro's head.

Senshiro smiled at Ichiru and let go of his hand and turned to look at the two hunters. "I apologize, I didn't mean any disrespect."

"Ichiru! Zero!" Asuka calls to her sons. She sits next to them and takes Ichiru's hand and wraps a cloth around his cut. "Madam President, I think we are going to call it a night." She says, looking up and her husband for support, who nods in agreement. The other hunters were around the other vampires, making sure they didn't make any sudden movement towards the family.

"Yes, I do believe we should call it a night." The president says, looking from the Kiryu family to Senshiro. "We'll talk more later." She says to Kazuki.

"I'm sorry for ruining your evening. Please continue as you were." Senshiro says, bowing his head in respect. He motioned for his followers to leave along with him. Asato looked at Senshiro and then left the building. As Senshiro was leaving with his people, he took one last glance at the boy who he had tasted the blood from and then left in the dark of the night with a smile on his face.

"Yagari, could you please take Zero for a minute?" Asuka asked, hugging her two boys closely to her.

Yagari bent down and took Zero, while Kazuki and Asuka dealt with Ichiru's injury. "Your brother's going to be fine Zero, everything is okay." He says to the young child when he realizes that he was shaking.

But Zero didn't hear anything. All he could think about was not being able to do anything for his little brother. This was exactly like the dream he had the other night when Ichiru was pulled into the darkness. Zero looked over at his brother. His hand was still bleeding and he looked as pale as he was when he was sick. His brother's life was in danger, and there was nothing he can do about it.


End file.
